Verstappen: “It will be harder than at Spa”

The hierarchy of the first day of testing for the Italian Grand Prix drew a fairly clear hierarchy. THE Mercedes de Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg finished ahead of the Ferrari de Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen, while the Red Bull de Max Verstappen et Daniel Ricciardo follow in fifth and sixth positions.

If Max Verstappen can have the satisfaction of having been more than two tenths ahead of his teammate, his delay of more than three tenths on the second Ferrari SF 16-H forces him to be cautious when discussing the objectives for Monza.

“We know it’s going to be a tough weekend for us. We're not too bad, but it's complicated, explained Max Verstappen in the Monza paddock. We have to ride with low downforce because we don't have top speed otherwise. In any case, we have found a good, effective balance for the different sectors and we must now advance the car. It will be harder than at Spa, that’s for sure. »

After finding himself in a fight at Spa-Francorchamps against Scuderia Ferrari after starting from the front row, Max Verstappen fears he will not be able to reproduce such a performance this weekend at the Italian Grand Prix.

“We’re a little too far behind. We might be able to reduce the gap if we do better tomorrow, but they seem to be performing very well. It will be hard to beat them, but we have to try.”, added the Red Bull driver.

Italian Grand Prix results